


Shattering

by Ginger Jam (skylite), skylite



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Justice League of America (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-09-02
Updated: 2000-09-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 16:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/624280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylite/pseuds/Ginger%20Jam, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylite/pseuds/skylite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Plastic Man ruminates on a hard decision he had to make, and the cost it exacted on him. And what kind of experiences does it take to make this usually comedic hero stop laughing?</p><p>Originally written right after JLA #46, end of the TOWER OF BABEL storyline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shattering

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Property of DC Comics. Used without permission, for entertainment  
> purposes only.

Rationally -- and physically -- and medically -- I know that all of me is in one  
piece again like it should be. That every little molecule, every iota, every  
broken fragment is back in place.

God bless Flash for being that fast -- for putting me together again like a 21st  
Century Humpty Dumpty.

So why does it feel like he missed a piece right about where my heart belongs?

So why does it feel like he missed a piece right about where my soul belongs?

Is it because I just helped vote out a man I respected and trusted from the most  
prestigious and cool superhero club in the world?

Is it because I'm scared of how close I came to death at the hands of Ra's Al  
Ghul's people -- when they froze me solid with liquid nitrogen and tapped me  
with a hammer and watched as I went all to pieces.

Maybe it's because I saw how badly the rest of the Justice League got hurt.  
Lantern -- the holder of the most powerful weapon in the world, blinded. Wonder  
Woman, lain low because of some tiny thing injected in her head. Superman,  
suffering Red Kryptonite poisoning. Aquaman, hydrophobic. The Manhunter, turned  
to a Martian torch.

Let me think...

...maybe it's because all of this happened because of the man I trusted and  
respected. The man who brought me to the League and made me one of them. The  
man who I tried to make proud with everything I did as a Leaguer.

The man who betrayed us all.

The man we trusted.

Batman.

The hero of Gotham. The Dark Knight. Their protector when their city needs them.  
They love him and trust him so much they have a SIGNAL to call him, for crying  
out loud.

And here I sit, alone at the table in the Justice League Watchtower, staring  
across from behind my shades, at the chair he used to park his bat-buns.

The chair I helped empty...because I voted him off the league. Me. Wonder  
Woman. And Aquaman. "...I can never again fight with confidence alongside a  
man so secretive, his presence now weakens the League, and those we defend need  
us always to be our strongest. With regret, I vote for expulsion." That's what  
she said, and that's all she said. Nothing else to the decision. Just a  
knowledge it had to be made. She made it look easy.

When Kyle asked me, he reminded me how I got into this club of heroes. As if I  
needed reminding. I know Batman got me in. I know I owe him. In my mind's  
eye, back behind my lenses, all I could see was that hammer coming for my head.  
The sound of my own body falling apart -- shattering. And the terror that came  
with it, because frozen I couldn't do anything. I was helpless.

And I knew it was Batman who had cooked up this torture for me. What a pal,  
huh?

Just when you think you've finally made it out of the shadows, into the light,  
where you can trust the people you thought you could call friends.

I guess the others feel the same way or he wouldn't have been voted out.

Let this be a lesson to ya, then, Eel old son. No matter how good a person may  
seem to be, or how much they profess to be your friend, they don't give a damn  
about anyone but themselves when it all comes down to it.

It all comes out in the wash. He didn't think we should get our bodies taken  
over again, so he devised ways to take us all out. Nice.

I guess Wonder Woman's right, though. How could the American people trust us if  
we don't trust each other?

Still, it feels like some of those broken parts are lodged in my heart.

Like a little kid who just got told there's no Santa Claus.

Will I get over it? Maybe. But the nights'll be no fun for a while, until the  
nightmares go away?

Will I trust the Batman again? Someday? Maybe.

Will I call him my friend again?

Someday.

Maybe.


End file.
